With government confirming 83 more deaths, the COVID-19 death tally jumps to 2,767
KATHMANDU, Feb 26: The government has unveiled a revised data of the deaths related to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) for the second time.
Health Ministry corrects COVID-19 death numbers, 619 more fatal...
The Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) on Thursday added 83 more deaths caused by the COVID-19 infection. With this, the total number of COVID-19 fatalities in the country has jumped to 2,767. The ministry had also added 619 deaths to the existing 2,065 deaths earlier on Wednesday.
Talking to Republica on Wednesday, the spokesperson for the MoHP, Dr Jageshwar Gautam, said the data is being updated based on the data collected both by the ministry and COVID-19 Crisis Management Center (CCMC).
Republica had earlier in November reported that the real number of COVID-19 deaths was far higher than the one presented by the ministry as the government’s data collection process was full of flaws. Sources at the CCMC had told Republica that the record maintained by the health ministry was full of flaws, and the actual COVID-19-related deaths could be much higher than the data published by the health ministry.
“Nepal Army has the accurate number as every death related to COVID-19 is added to their data. When a COVID-19 patient dies in a hospital or at home, the hospital management or the local unit informs the CCMC, and then a team of Nepal Army is mobilized to manage the dead body. The Nepal Army verifies COVID-19 positive reports and death certificates to manage the dead bodies,” a source at the CCMC had told Republica in November last year.
The government had also formed a three-member committee comprising officials from Nepal Army, Epidemiology and Disease Control Division (EDCD), and the health ministry to investigate the discrepancy in the number of deaths.
